At about Midnight on the 29^th of June 2010, an international flight touched down at the Nmamidi Azikiwe international airport Abuja. Inside the flight were delegates from the European Union, and the United States of America. After a heavy rain that had just eased of, the atmosphere was somewhat chilly, with the wind rustling gently through the leaves, and making eerie whistling sounds. At about the same time that the flight touched down at Abuja, 12 Ships, 4 each were berthing in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Calabar ports.

The captains of the ships were under instructions to berth and await further orders from the delegates and the Nigerian government in Abuja .The delegates, refreshed, but still somewhat groggy after a long sleep in a transatlantic flight were highly expectant as they descended the flight into a welcoming presidential convoy, hosted by the Chief of staff to the president, and the Secretary to the federal government. After much exchange of pleasantries and diplomatic niceties, they finally headed for a top-secret private meeting with the president and other dignitaries at government house. Touching down at 01: 30 hours at government house, they were ushered into the state house conference centre were the President, Vice president, Senate president, speaker of the house of reps. 36 state governors, service chiefs, Ministers, permanent secretaries, local government chairmen, chairmen of boards, parastatals and traditional rulers were seated.  

The top secret nocturnal meeting commenced after a late night banquet. The European and American delegates explained that due to the discovery of a new planet “Genetica” that was habitable with very favourable climatic conditions, they required at least 10 million Slaves to help them in setting up farms and constructing critical infrastructure in the new planet. The Nigerian government had prior to the arrival of the delegates, known the agenda, and had tacitly agreed out of crass greed to the deal, subject to final ratification of the modalities in the conference. The deal was finally sealed with a price tag of $10 billion to be paid to the Nigerian government and shared among all the officials present at the conference and all other stakeholders who would facilitate the rapid procurement of the Slaves. 

The state governors, traditional rulers etc were to immediately begin the arrest of slaves in their respective domains for onward distribution to the ships. The meeting ended with the gleeful European and American delegates issuing an advance payment of $2billion dollars to the rogue Nigerian government. Orders were immediately given to the 12 ships berthed in several ports to prepare their ships for reception of thousands of able-bodied slaves for onward shipment to America from where they would board a special space vessel to planet “Genetica” to begin gruelling slave labour.  

The above scenario might seem farfetched or even impossible, but the truth is that there is nothing in Nigeria today that makes it different from a slave plantation. The crass greed and unbelievable wickedness of Nigerian leaders at virtually all levels, from the Presidency to the state governors, ministers, local government chairmen etc that has left the roads in utter disrepair, the hospitals in shambles, the schools in progressive decay, and the nation in perpetual darkness amongst other social and infrastructural meltdown, in spite of a record oil boom running for almost a decade, is enough testimony that if the variant of transatlantic slave trade still existed, Nigerian leaders would bat no eyelid in selling their citizens into slavery to line their pockets with lucre.  

Indeed present day Nigeria is by any definition a slave plantation. The masses are huddled in crunching poverty, toiling everyday in the scorching heat, under abusive exploitative bosses, and yet ending up most of the time being owed their meagre wages. The situation is compounded even further by the grim reality that on getting home after such a hellish day, there will be neither running water nor electricity. 

For many civil servants, many of whom end up queuing for hours at the pension's office after a whole life of working without getting any pension, the hard scrabble and undervalued bricklayers, mechanics, market women, and unemployed graduates struggling to survive under hellish conditions as against the unconscionable political leaders revelling in crass greed, who drive around in air-conditioned fleets of cars, surrounded by gun totting security men, living in fortified opulent mansions with non-stop generators humming round the clock, and working in similarly air-conditioned offices, totally cushioned from the harsh realities of life, which the enslaved masses confront everyday, there can be no better definition and or reality of a slave plantation than that which they have been subjected as victims on a daily basis. 

The recent revelation by Musa Yar Adua on the occasion of the visit of the world bank vice president, Dr Oby Ezekwesili that $10billion was spent on electricity by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, while ironically the worsening power situation has thrown the nation into perpetual darkness, and a further revelation by the deputy senate president Senator Ike Ekweremadu that N950 billion was being owed contractors on non-existent roads could only have been possible with totally unconscionable leaders, that harbour a “slave trader mentality.” The vices and schemes through which Nigerian leaders have looted state funds without sparing a thought for the shackled and impoverished masses are legion. 

Anybody familiar with the historical brutality and inhumanity demonstrated by the erstwhile slave traders and masters would instantly recognize the same callousness and greed that made the slave trade possible among Nigerian leaders. No matter how hard they try, Nigerian leaders cannot escape the inevitable verdict of history, which will surely brand them slave traders and masters who thrived on the exploitation, misery and despair of their subjects to the extent that while other nations with smart, caring leaders prospered, they only succeeded in creating a modern day slave plantation for their own citizens in the 21^st century. 

Comrade Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu

Email: lawrencenwobu@yahoo.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 var sbtitle3888=encodeURIComponent(Nigeria as ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 21.01.2008 03:42

Jah Guda  Villager

# 2 Someone once wisely observed that there is no honour amongst thieves. Nigerian leaders are quite capable of anything, just one glance at the condition Nigeria is in tells you all you need to know about our politicians. It is incredible that Nigerians have been hostage to these group of politicians for five decades. Most are un-inteligent, with sick demeanour, lack communication skills, no leadership ability or a simply grasp of economics yet they lead us. Our elections are a farce; intimidation, murder and vote rigging are the norm, a handful of people decide who gets the most votes, who should be leader of Nigeria. They owe allegiance to a small band of gready Nigerians and foreign corporations, not to Nigerians. They get richer by the day and some are dollar millionaires, and we all know where they get all that money from. Our systems are in tatters, only the rich get richer, through politics, while everybody else stagnates or slides backwards into economic slavery or sheer poverty. Leaders of Nigeria get a clue. The money you siphon into your pockets comes from the blood of Nigerians. Once they are out of blood, you are out of money. And then you will pay with your blood. Posted by Jah Guda| 21.01.2008 06:12

Ruyi Igiehon  JJC

# 3 Very Good Article, But I'll have to say the fact is evident in the case of Nigerian leaders, that which you have mentioned above is one of the several traits of Nigerian and even most African Leaders. The issue I believe is deeper than we think. Food for Thought: Whats the problem with African Leaders?, or is it average Africans: What is our mental atitude like? and what society have we emerged from over the past years or generations, is it one that has always known one or more of the following: corruption, indiscipline, greed, dis unity, lack of eduction, pro imperalism, absence of self worth, disregard of the fundamentals of life (cause wether you like it or not most of us have one or more or all of the above), we could continue but they are to many to list. If this is the case, how do you change the average atitude of my fellow african brother who is also a potential leader. Is it by crying that change needs to happen (which will not get you far), is by joining the political craziness that is happening in Nigeria (might end up being killed for your good values), or is it by having a successful democratic election? Lets talk about Democracy for a second, Democracy is defined as: government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system I have highlighted People, who are the Nigerian people?, we are a nation of over 30 or 40 different tribes and are divided in our views. But the common cry is that we want the basic fundamentals of life, this is a luxury in Nigeria or in most part of Africa. Bearing the previous statement in mind can we say that we are not a people with rights to vote based on the fact that we are one of the largest oil exporters oil and the difference between the upper class and the non extistence lower class is of huge proportion. The leader who are wanting the votes are very much the upper class, so, how does an upper class individual win the vote of a non existent lower class?, is it by throwing a little money to them, bullying them with thugs or bribing the local chief of the village or community, it has to be one of the above. So the question is, is Deomocracy for us? My Views, Democracy I believe at a higher level is for us, not at a lower level, when I say higher level, I mean a type of system where individual based on certain criteria (i.e carefully thought criteria i.e. tax payers, what have they done for their individual communities, educational background and ideals (what they are about) e.t.c) representing their regions and voting on behalf of their individual regions for legislation and policies. What type of Leader do we need as a nation?, My views: The nation is in need of visionary leader, a leader with dreams with determination to make his dream a reality, one who will sell Nigeria as country to it's citizens (one Nigeria, one people) and lead by example. One who is ready to take the bold step of making a changes by getting rid of a few (bad apples) to save a nation,A leader who wants to educate his people so they all have responsibilties within a nation, A leader who is ready to make personal sacrifices for his people and the list stretches on, anyone with any decency understands what they want from their leaders, at list no one has to be educated to know that. If we don't have a leader with the above attributes we will always struggle as a nation. Posted by Ruyi Igiehon| 21.01.2008 10:50

Mikky jaga  Villager

# 4 The last eight years was one of the darkest in Nigeria's history. The picture you painted was a graphic representation of that era, where the desire to please the West supecedes the desire to better the lot of Nigerians. But, things are looking brighter even though we are not out of the woods yet. We only need to sustain our modest gains, keep impunity and Messiahnic spirit out of our governance, then with active resistance to tyranny by the larger population of our people, we will surely get there. The former slave traders were "successful" because they had absolute powers. If we allow any of our present rulers to acquire such powers, we will be back to the slave trade era, even though in refined form. Abacha tried and failed, OBJ also failed. May we never see maximum rulers in our land again. Posted by Mikky jaga| 21.01.2008 11:03

akuluouno  Villager

# 5 Villagers, By taking the first wrong steps in the 21st Century already, this milennium will elude us. Already the millennium development goals (MDGs) are already out of sight. So where do we go from here. We have had enough talk already. If a critical mass of about 100 Nigerians will eschew tribe, tongue, religion, zone, state, sex, height, weight and all those other things that we mischieviously exploit to keep ourselves down and bond together to move the nation forward from the abyss, without bitterness, if I am to quote Abyssynia Akweke Nwafor Orizu, then we are doomed. Measurable targets in all the critical areas of governance should be set and time for their attainment also set. For instance in health care, I challenge government to offer free panadol by the end of the year to all Nigerians. Ditto, in roads, education etc etc. Let the people be allowed to take ownership of the way they are governed and let politicians and their cousins civil servants go back to their old time schedule of being he servants of the people. I thought this was what servant-leadership was all about.:eek::eek::eek: Posted by akuluouno| 21.01.2008 18:22

Wayfarer  Villager

# 6 Kudos to Ruyi Igiehon, Mikki Jaga and Akuluouno for your thoughts. I do not think Nigeria will ever make it if we the people do not take an active part in her renovation. Posted by Wayfarer| 22.01.2008 00:01